Frequently Asked Questions

Q. What does "Panacea" mean?
A. A remedy for all ills or difficulties. A cure all.

Q. Why should I pay for diagnostic testing?
A. The simple answer is - to save money. The amount of money spent by consumers at shops that "throw parts" at problems in hopes of hitting the lucky fix is staggering. Testing performed by technicians with the proper equipment, training, and technical resources allows your repair to be targeted at the cause instead of trying expensive guesses. Such testing may seem costly at first, but it is actually much more cost effective than guessing at the correct fix. Would you prefer to pay $200 in testing and $200 in repairs, or free testing and $800 in repairs?

Q. Why should I pay to have someone to "just take a look at it"?
A. We do not charge to just look at something. We are happy to look at an item that lends itself to an easy judgement of its condition. Each year as vehicles have become more complex, the list of easily judged items has become smaller. To accurately diagnose most situations, some form of testing or disassembly is required. This usually calls for procedures or equipment that involve a certain amount of cost.

Q. Why do you ask so many questions about my vehicle, and why should I tell you all those details?
A. Some people believe that the more information they tell the shop about their vehicle, the more it will cost them. Fact is the exact opposite is true. Large amounts of customers money is wasted everyday because of charge incurred when technicians spend time searching in the wrong areas when they do not have enough good information to go on. Just like when you go to the doctor, you want to give as much detail as possible to assist in locating the problem quickly and efficiently.

Q. Do you have one of those machines that tells you exactly what my car needs when you plug it in?
A. Although such "machines" seem to be a popular topic of discussion, they simply do not exist. Here at The Panacea Auto Repair we have many types of diagnostic equipment and testing devices that assist our technicians in locating a failure. We pride ourselves in being diagnostic specialists and get many referrals from other shops for driveability problems. But, rarely does the test equipment in itself instantly tell our technicians exactly what the problem is. They do assist the technician in narrowing the failure to a particular system or sub-system. It is the trained experienced technician that actually pinpoints the failure.

Q. Why can’t you skip the testing and do the repair that was recommended by the other shop that worked on my vehicle? They were sure that was the problem, but they don’t do that type of work?
A. If the other shop does not perform that type of repair, there is usually a good reason. They may lack the training, or equipment, or technical resources. They may have had a poor success rate with that type of repair in the past. Spending your money on their recommendation is risky at best.

Q. Why are shops reluctant to give estimates over the phone?
A. An estimate for a repair can be given over the phone if you are 100 percent positive what you need. However, there are so many variables that come into play that the estimate may be quite different than the repair. It is always best, if you want a firm estimate, to have us inspect the vehicle first.